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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
This book is so much more witty than I am. I will have to come back to this book some day. I was surprised to learn that this book is a blend between reading Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, J.R. R. Tolkien, and Ray Bradbury. I examined whales from many lenses: from the eye of seamen, biologists, literary analysts, lawyers, artists, and an author who knows how to make the whale chase scenes so lively and exciting and remarkable that it was worth all the waiting to get to those parts. Like Darwin, I had not anticipated Melville to be hilarious. I would go back and reread parts in humored delight and send this comedic wit to my friends. This book deserves a 5 out of 5 for the variety of vignettes, story telling, and the mixture of supernatural realistic fiction.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a strange book. It's like somebody scrawled a Romantic adventure story, replete with poetry and philosophy, in the margins of a second-rate textbook about whaling. This book is not at all what I was expecting.
For one thing, it's actually quite funny. Ishmael and Queequeg's bromance in the beginning is redolent with gay puns and jokes. Their relationship is a stark contrast to Ahab and his doomed quest.
Ishmael often weighs in with humorous asides or bitingly sarcastic statements about modern man. Or sometimes there's slightly lower-brow humor.
This, in the book so well known for being a cautionary tale about fanaticism? That folder quip would be just as easily at-home in a Mel Brooks movie or Looney Tunes.
Reading Moby Dick was actually very similar to my experience with War and Peace in this respect. You become so set on this notion of what canonical literature is supposed to be, that you end up being blindsided by the richness and humanity that likely made it a classic in the first place.
And I did actually learn quite a bit about whales and whaling, both from Melville himself and from the supplementary research that his prose practically begs for. Of course, while a more modern view of the relative intelligence and preciousness of whales courts a disgust at the business of whaling, it's still a fascinating chapter in human history.
All I was expecting was exposition on whaling and Captain Ahab's doomed quest, but I got so much more. I'm not going to say this book isn't a slog for the modern reader, but there is a lot here to recommend it as well.
For one thing, it's actually quite funny. Ishmael and Queequeg's bromance in the beginning is redolent with gay puns and jokes. Their relationship is a stark contrast to Ahab and his doomed quest.
Ishmael often weighs in with humorous asides or bitingly sarcastic statements about modern man. Or sometimes there's slightly lower-brow humor.
What precise purpose this ivory horn or lance [the Narwhal's tusk] answers, it would be hard to say. It does not seem to be used like the blade of the sword-fish and bill-fish; though some sailors tell me that the Narwhale employs it for a rake in turning over the bottom of the sea for food. Charley Coffin said it was used for an ice-piercer; for the Narwhale, rising to the surface of the Polar Sea, and finding it sheeted with ice, thrusts his horn up, and so breaks through. But you cannot prove either of these surmises to be correct. My own opinion is, that however this one-sided horn may really be used by the Narwhale--however that may be--it would certainly be very convenient to him for a folder in reading pamphlets. (page 146)
This, in the book so well known for being a cautionary tale about fanaticism? That folder quip would be just as easily at-home in a Mel Brooks movie or Looney Tunes.
Reading Moby Dick was actually very similar to my experience with War and Peace in this respect. You become so set on this notion of what canonical literature is supposed to be, that you end up being blindsided by the richness and humanity that likely made it a classic in the first place.
And I did actually learn quite a bit about whales and whaling, both from Melville himself and from the supplementary research that his prose practically begs for. Of course, while a more modern view of the relative intelligence and preciousness of whales courts a disgust at the business of whaling, it's still a fascinating chapter in human history.
All I was expecting was exposition on whaling and Captain Ahab's doomed quest, but I got so much more. I'm not going to say this book isn't a slog for the modern reader, but there is a lot here to recommend it as well.
I have slain the white whale and lived to tell the tale. Call me Ishmael.
Moby Dick is a truly remarkable book. I’m not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading it, but I’m glad I did. I’m too lazy to review it and am fairly certain there is nothing I could say about it that hasn’t been said before, so here’s some of my favorite reviews other people have written:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/85586213
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/96027215
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2388278428
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/08/the-endless-depths-of-i-moby-dick-i-symbolism/278861/
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-moby-dick-means-to-me
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Tech-Culture/2012/1018/Herman-Melville-books-At-first-Moby-Dick-was-a-total-flop
https://bookmarks.reviews/the-original-1851-reviews-of-moby-dick/
Oh, and if you can get your hands on a copy with Rockwell Kent’s illustrations, please do. They add a lot to the reading experience.
Moby Dick is a truly remarkable book. I’m not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading it, but I’m glad I did. I’m too lazy to review it and am fairly certain there is nothing I could say about it that hasn’t been said before, so here’s some of my favorite reviews other people have written:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/85586213
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/96027215
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2388278428
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/08/the-endless-depths-of-i-moby-dick-i-symbolism/278861/
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-moby-dick-means-to-me
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Tech-Culture/2012/1018/Herman-Melville-books-At-first-Moby-Dick-was-a-total-flop
https://bookmarks.reviews/the-original-1851-reviews-of-moby-dick/
Oh, and if you can get your hands on a copy with Rockwell Kent’s illustrations, please do. They add a lot to the reading experience.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
W świecie całkowicie zdominowanym i kontrolowanym przez człowieka to, co nieuchwytne, niedostępne i rzadkie łatwo staje się obsesją. Biały Wieloryb, jedyny w swoim rodzaju, jest jak ostatnia wodza Natury, która umyka jeźdźcowi z palców, i uniemożliwia pełną władzę nad kierunkiem i destynacją jakiej pożąda.
Manifest niewiary Ahaba w trakcie sztormu, spotkanie zarażonego statku na pełnym morzu, rozterki załogi i komentarze Ishmaela z masą odniesień bibilijnych są jak pieczątki na podpisanym wyroku skazujacym wszystko, co próbuje nam wejść w drogę do osiągnięcia naszych celów - zbudowanych na fundamencie egoizmu i egocentryzmu.
Manifest niewiary Ahaba w trakcie sztormu, spotkanie zarażonego statku na pełnym morzu, rozterki załogi i komentarze Ishmaela z masą odniesień bibilijnych są jak pieczątki na podpisanym wyroku skazujacym wszystko, co próbuje nam wejść w drogę do osiągnięcia naszych celów - zbudowanych na fundamencie egoizmu i egocentryzmu.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Un racconto epico di un uomo contro la balena bianca ? non solo.
Achab è il simbolo dell'umanità che combatte contro il destino crudele e mutevole.
Come la balena la avvisti per poco e poi scompare fra le onde cosi Achab vuole prendere con mano la vita ma ogni volta le sfugge.
Considerando il tempo in cui è stato scritto il libro presenta una forte componente "Americana" in cui ogni uomo si erge contro il destino cieco e beffardo e tenta in ogni modo di trovare un suo posto.
nella prima parte sono molto interessanti le descrizioni dei leviatani e dei loro comportamenti.
Nella parte centrale del libro si ha un calo del ritmo che non mi ha convinto forse un po troppo lento nello sviluppo.
in sintesi un libro che consiglierei ? si
Achab è il simbolo dell'umanità che combatte contro il destino crudele e mutevole.
Come la balena la avvisti per poco e poi scompare fra le onde cosi Achab vuole prendere con mano la vita ma ogni volta le sfugge.
Considerando il tempo in cui è stato scritto il libro presenta una forte componente "Americana" in cui ogni uomo si erge contro il destino cieco e beffardo e tenta in ogni modo di trovare un suo posto.
nella prima parte sono molto interessanti le descrizioni dei leviatani e dei loro comportamenti.
Nella parte centrale del libro si ha un calo del ritmo che non mi ha convinto forse un po troppo lento nello sviluppo.
in sintesi un libro che consiglierei ? si
I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 as a concession to the fact that there are some bits of stunning prose, but overall, reading this book has been utterly painful, the kind of pain that makes you groan the moment you look at the page in front of you.
I'm glad I've read it and that I can make an informed opinion now. But boy am I glad it's over.
I'm glad I've read it and that I can make an informed opinion now. But boy am I glad it's over.
adventurous
funny
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated